Awaken Your Wallet – Fire Emblem: Awakening Bargains

It has been almost a month since Luigi’s Mansion 2 was released and you’re probably thinking, gee I could do with another 3DS game to play. Well you’re in you’re in luck.

This Saturday sees the release of Fire Emblem: Awakening here in Australia. The game was released in America a couple of months ago and it has been painful for fans especially since the game has garnered a lot of praise from press and players alike.

As its the start of the week these prices are subject to change and not all stores have released their prices or their best prices. As usual (well most of the time) the best prices are found overseas but you won’t be playing the game for a little while if you take that route.

Sadly the special edition Fire Emblem themed 3DS bundle is not being released here but we’ve listed a couple of stores that will ship it to Australia. The system is entirely compatible with Australian games but will come with no charger, you’ll need buy one locally.

The eshop is always the most expensive option.
I don’t understand why though.. They don’t have to pay for producing the disc, case and booklets, nor do they have to pay for retail workers to sell it.
The eshop is only good for indie and VC games.
It’s stupid how expensive 3DS games are compared to Wii U games though.

3DS games shouldn’t be as expensive as they, period. However the eShop price is set at retail because if Nintendo (or any other publishers) were to cut the price below retail then why would stores stock it?

At the moment the publishers need retail, until that balance changes we’ll see games on digital platforms around about the same price as retail. Surprisingly the Vita is the only console that consistently has them cheaper.

Personally, I’d rather pay more for hard copies because it’s just nicer to have, but eshop prices can’t compete with retail anyway.
What you’re saying makes sense though as people would prefer to store games on their SD card, especially for the 3DS so they don’t need to carry game cards with them, however in the case of the Wii U I don’t see the point.
If people do it so they don’t have to deal with the disc and case, they can simply throw the case out and keep the discs in a dvd case which isn’t much more space consuming than a hard drive plugged into the Wii U since it’s only 32GB.
Alternatively, purchased discs (with the case) can be sold/traded in after use but you can’t do that with downloads, not to mention the time it takes to download large games with average internet in Australia.
I understand that the 3DS eshop might need to be more costly to save retail, but I don’t think I’ll understand why people would pay more for Wii U games other than indie/retail.

EB seems the best deal if you want the extra bonus, only 4 bucks more.

The Amazon deal for the Fire Emblem XL is good, but personally I now think the design for the American/Japanese standard Fire Emblem 3DS is cooler. The XL they sort of just slapped the Falchion emblem on there.

Are there any issues with downloading the game from the EU eShop for cheaper? Will the game still appear on your club nintendo list? Kinda worried if I transfer my games to another 3ds or a future ds console that it won’t transfer across. Or if I lose my 3ds Nintendo won’t let me get it back.

Im not sure what happens if you do, but what i do know is that you can link your nintendo club account with the downloads. If your looking for cheaper price suggest changing your region to somewhere in south Africa, which will make the game cost around R499.99, which will be converted into around 56 AUD and also you will be able to (probably) download the game earlier.

Actually, it doesn’t have to be more expensive. I’ve got a US imported 3DS with access to their eShop, and their store prices are on par with retail. $39.99 for new release 3DS games, while we’re $69.95. Their mark-up is completely unnecessary, and could afford to be knocked down $10. After all, there is absolutely no middle-man involved.